Engineering - mechanical

Environmental aging is responsible for many industrial failures. Using a protective coating is one of the most common and also efficient methods to protect material surfaces against environmental attack, and consequently extend their life. For modern coatings used for industrial applications, besides high chemical stability and good adhesion, new functionalities such electrical conductivity or anti-static properties are desired. For example, for development of transportation and electronic technologies, a low cost conductive coating with good physical properties is required.

The project examines the use of recycled plastics sourced from waste landfills for construction and infrastructure
applications such as fence panels, an idea developed by EcoFence. Through the course of this project a
comprehensive study is conducted to evaluate the mechanical and physical characteristics, such as strength
and sound absorption. The measured data is compared to those of conventional fencing materials such as vinyl,
composite wood and concrete.

The proposed research will be focused on eliminating fugitive emissions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) transmission, storage, and distribution operations. LNG can be used as fuel for transportation, and for combined heat and power generation in remote locations. We will study transmission, storage, and distribution operations by developing quasi-steady-state and time-dependent thermodynamic models. These models will be validated using data from instrumented equipment at our industrial partnersâ sites (a small consortium has been created specifically to support the proposed research).

Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) is interested to further investigate the use of novel Polymer Matrix Composites (PMC's) technologies, in order to improve their products by reducing weight and increasing performances of their engines. Current applications of PMC's in P&WCs engine are mostly limited to cold section parts (

While torque is an important parameter in automotive performance, there are currently very few effective methods to monitor it in vehicles. The aim of this project is to develop a low-cost solution for real time engine torque monitoring. An autonomous sensor module will be developed and mounted to the flexplate connecting the engine and the transmission system in vehicles with wasted vibration energy in the flexplates being harnessed to power the sensor module.

Hydrogen powered polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are a clean energy technology that generates electricity without harmful emissions at the point of use. Current R&D efforts mainly target to commercialize PEMFCs through cost reduction and durability enhancement. The lifetime of PEMFC is limited by the degradation and failure of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). The proposed research project addresses the mechanical degradation mechanism, a key factor reducing the lifetime of PEMs, by developing in-house ex-situ mechanical durability evaluation tools.

Estimating poses of three dimensional (3D) objects is of great importance to many high level tasks such as robotic manipulation, scene interpretation and augmented reality. Detecting poorly textured objects and estimating their 3D pose is still a challenging problem. The objective and expected result of this research is to develop a systematic and applicable approach that could detect poorly textured 3D object pose. The proposed method is using state-of-the art deep learning in computer vision.

Powder Metallurgy (PM) is a production method suitable for accurately fabricating complex shapes to a desired size and shape, thus minimizing the need for machining. This makes it cost effective in comparison to other manufacturing technologies.
In order to facilitate the production of PM parts, a lubricant is added to the iron based powder during mixing. The lubricant affects the internal friction between the particles during compaction as well as reduces the total energy needed to eject the part from the die after compaction.

Degradation assessment for critical assets in power generation has great significance for power industry. Existing degradation assessment models failed either in combining the multimodal condition monitoring data or in removing time-varying working condition influences, resulting in inaccurate and/or unreliable degradation assessment results. In order to achieve robust and accurate degradation assessment for power generation critical assets, this project aims at developing new models based on both maintenance data and condition monitoring data from ENMAX.

In the coming months, a new set of energy efficiency targets called step codes will be incorporated into the standards used to build houses. The step code is intended to provide builders with a better understanding of what is expected of them when they build energy efficient homes. It will also allow municipalities incorporate energy efficiency standards into new housing developments. The anticipated problem is that the builders may struggle to meet these energy efficiency standards because it is different from the homes they are used to building.